Dr. Bruce Zimmermann’s discipline history reaches back as far as 2002, and the current situation marks the second time his licence has been suspended related to record keeping and time management.
Published Jun 21, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan is an oversight body for Saskatchewan doctors. Photo by Michelle Berg /Saskatoon StarPhoenix
An Indian Head doctor’s licence has been suspended as part of the latest sanction levied against him by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS).
Dr. Bruce Zimmermann’s licence to practice medicine has been suspended for six weeks after he admitted to charges of unprofessional conduct for not following two terms of the penalty imposed on him the last time he was sanctioned by the professional oversight body.
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Information posted on the CPSS website indicates Zimmermann “was late completing a medical record-keeping course and a self-study in time management and did not request extensions of those timeframes in advance.”
The penalty decision was rendered June 7, and indicates the six-week suspension was to commence June 19.
In addition, he is required to “complete an extended ethics course,” and if he doesn’t do so on or before March 7, 2025, his licence is to be suspended again until he completes such a course.
He must also pay costs associated with the investigation into his conduct and the related hearing in the amount of $4,537.50.
Zimmermann received his degree in medicine from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987, according to the CPSS website.
His run-ins with the CPSS date back to 2002, when he was charged with and found guilty of failing to provide information to the CPSS in a timely manner.
In 2006, he entered guilty pleas to four charges of failing to respond to correspondence from the CPSS.
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In 2009, Zimmermann admitted that he had engaged in unprofessional conduct on five occasions, which included three instances of refusing to attend to patients at the Indian Head hospital emergency room while he was on call, for which he accepted payment.
In that instance, the CPSS Council decision indicates that Zimmermann, then 48 years old, “spoke to the competing needs of raising a young family and training as a triathlete.”
“He spoke of the incredible pressures on an on-call physician in a small community,” the decision states, noting that in each of the months in 2008 from which the patient charges stemmed, the doctor was on call 27 days.
The decision notes the Council accepted Zimmermann was working hard, but states “it seems he did not appreciate his responsibilities as an on-call physician.”
“Patients reporting to a hospital for medical attention may have been harmed by Dr. Zimmermann’s failure to attend at the hospital. Fortunately, none were, but that outcome could not have been known when they attended at the hospital.”
In 2019, he was charged with failing to complete hospital charts in a timely manner, and he subsequently signed an undertaking that he would do so, but he was later charged with failing to follow that undertaking.
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Zimmermann admitted to those charges and the Council acknowledged “the workload caused by the Covid-19 pandemic might have contributed to your inability to complete hospital charts in a timely fashion.”
However, the Council called the breach of undertaking “unacceptable” and warned that further unprofessional conduct “will likely result in a more severe penalty.”
At that time, his licence was suspended for a period of two months, and he was required to complete the aforementioned programs in record keeping and time management.
His failure to do so in the required time brought about the current situation.
bharder@postmedia.com
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